MECHELEN/ RV STUDIO – Today we started shooting a new short film by Raoul Servais, “Der Lange Kerl”. In a battlefield set, built in the studio, the confrontation of a wounded Frenchman with a tall young German soldier is filmed. The main actors are Gilles De Schryver as the Frenchman François and Matthieu Sys as the German Friedrich, alias ‘der lange Kerl’.

Raoul Servais wrote the screenplay and drew the storyboard himself. Because of his age, the 92-year-old animation director works together with Rudy Pinceel, his co-director. Both know each other well because Rudy Pinceel followed Raoul on camera for three years for his documentary “SERVAIS” (2018).

The story of “Der Lange Kerl” is set (just like Raoul’s previous work “Tank” from 2015) on the battlefield during World War I. The film will be a mix of live footage and 2D animation.

Creative Conspiracy (CC) in Ghent will take care of the live shots while the animation will be done by Tchack in Lille (France).
Background VFX and compositing will be done afterwards by Spicy Acorn in Ghent.

The internationally renowned composer and conductor Dirk Brossé, who is not a novice when it comes to film music, will compose the music for “Der Lange Kerl”.

“Der Lange Kerl” is realised with the support of the Flemish Audiovisual Fund, the Belgian Tax Shelter via Casa Kafka Pictures and Pictanovo.